SDG&E Powerlink Update
By E.A. Barrera

"Before SDG&E destroys a pristine state park, destroys property values and invests in costly imported power, it must examine other options and justify the need. Experts believe that by re-tooling existing plants, our region will move closer to meeting future energy demands. This effort, coupled with solar and conservation projects are far preferable to this costly line."

- County Supervisor Diane Jacob

January 30, 2006

As the debate over the San Diego Gas and Electric's Sunrise Powerlink plan enters its second year, residents of Julian, Santa Ysabel, Ramona and other communities in the East County have grown increasingly worried that the once bucolic quality of life they have enjoyed will be permanently damaged.

Proposals by SDG&E to place the 150-mile electricity line with towers as high as 170 feet through public and private property have sparked outrage.

"We are all vehemently opposed to it," Julian resident Debbie Cox told the San Diego Business Journal. "Julian is one of the last preserves we have in Southern California...(and) the word "preserve' is what we're fighting for."

Powerlink would connect the existing Imperial Valley substation near El Centro with one in coastal San Diego. SDG&E plans to build two, 230-kilovolt lines connecting the central substation to the existing Sycamore Canyon substation, as well as one new 230-kilovolt line between the Sycamore Canyon substation and the Penasquitos substation. The projected cost of the project is estimated at $1.4 billion.

During the past year, SDG&E has claimed that the project would bring in $447 million in energy savings to regional consumers. But SDG&E revised that estimate down by more than 75 percent, stating on Jan. 25 that the savings would only reach $85 million. The company also admitted in documents to California state regulators that it would be cheaper to meet future energy obligations by building modern power plants instead of going ahead with the Powerlink project.

SDG&E insists that the Powerlink project is needed to ensure a reliable supply of electricity, and that the line would allow it to tap renewable sources of electricity it says will be developed in Imperial Valley. The utility giant has repeatedly said the San Diego region needs the line to avoid a future of rolling blackouts.

"We will run out of transmission by 2010 if nothing is done," said Dariush Shirmohammadi, California Independent System Operator (Cal-ISO) Director of Transmission Planning for the Southern Region. "We took a look at the economic benefits and the energy benefits and found the program is justified. It solves the reliability problem as to future energy production and helps keep a future energy crises in check."